Refugees arrive at the Munich central station in Munich, Germany, on Sept. 5, 2015. The first batch of refugees coming by train from Hungary via Austria arrived at Munich central station at noon time on Saturday, with more expected to come later in the day. (Xinhua/Luo Huanhuan)
Thousands of refugees arrive in Munich central station
MUNICH, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- About 3,700 refugees coming by train from Hungary via Austria have arrived at Munich central station by early Saturday evening, with another 3,000 still expected to come later in the night.
According to German police, three special trains with refugees are expected to arrive at about 01:00 on Sunday local time.
"We prepare ourselves today for 5,000 to 7,000 refugees," said Christoph Hillenbrand, head of district government of Upper Bavaria.
In the central railway station, quite a few volunteers, staff members from German railway company Deutsche Bahn(DB) and police help to keep order. According to the police, everything is going smoothly and peacefully.
Besides, there are also some people, who originally come from Syria but have lived in Germany for a long time. They brings candies and slogans to welcome refugees in the central railway station.
The first special train, carrying about 250 refugees, drove in at about 13:30 local time and stopped at the No. 27 platform. Meanwhile, another DB train had already waited at the opposite platform.
After debarking from the special train, the refugees were instructed by police directly to the waiting train, which is said to drive to a first reception center, 3 km west of the central station.
In addition, halls of Munich international exhibition center, a local school and an indoor tennis center are also used as first reception centers for refugees. Then those refugees, most of whom come from Syria, will be distributed to other German states and places in 24 hours.
"Munich alone can not be the place of choice," a police spokesperson said, adding that Munich should only be a turntable.
Hungary decided on Friday night to bring refugees stuck at Budapest by bus to the Austrian border. Austria and Germany then declared their willingness to accept them.
Altogether, up to 10,000 refugees are expected to come to Germany on Saturday.
